john-boy.net
07-10-2003
Well, happy Independance Day for all the Americans (or more accurately, those from the United States) out there, and happy Canada Day (for the Canadians, eh?) . I spent the dawn of July 4th this year in an establishment that has come about as a result of our forefathers' refusal to drink mandatory-purchase tea; a coffee house. Yes, I watched the sun come up at Mojo's. We had the monthly 2600 meeting at Dobie as usual, and went from there to the Austin Symphony performance and fireworks display in Zilker Park. I took a few shots, such as the one you see to the right here, after it got dark. (Exposure is 1/4 sec @ f2.0, ISO 400 handheld, for those interested) I also took a couple (bad) shots of the fireworks. there's only so much you can do handheld for fireworks time exposures. In other news... i don't think there is any other news. I'm coming close to finishing my dad's site, so look for that soon.
07-26-2003
Blah. I haven't written in forever. Well, over 2 weeks anyway. I think I just haven't had a lot to write about. I am nearly finished with my dad's site - should be up and functional around the beginning of August, something like that. I have become irritated at how there is no standard for embedded fonts in html. Making a standard for embedding a font seems like it would be an exceedingly trivial task for the W3C to do, technically. Probably has never happened because some coprporate font-producing company threatened suit because such a standard would create a downloadable version of their precious "intellectual property". But that's just pure speculation. If you know the answer to the question of why embedded fonts have never become part of the html standard, please e-mail me and let me know.
In other news, I have some photos posted from this past week, including some photos of Bill and his truck and this past friday's meeting. Enjoy. :)
08-16-2003
I've been really burnt out lately, so I haven't updated the blog much. I decided to combine this month's with last month's (since I didn't say much anyway). I am in the process of planning my vacation next month. I am looking for a place as isolated from the world as possible. I am interested in like a primitive cabin on the bayou in Louisiana or some such thing. I did manage to find someplace in Missouri on a lake that seems to fit my requirements of remote and secluded nicely. In my search for a "remote cabin", it seems that everything that comes up is a RESORT with amenities like SWIMMING POOLS or NEARBY SHOPPING or some other such crap. Do people really want to go swimming in pools and go shopping when they stay in a cabin?? I mean really, what's up with this??? It seems nearly impossible to find a place to just go and be alone. Despite the frustrating search, I'm really looking forward to getting away from everything and spending some time in solitude. Work is really starting to grate at my nerves and I need a break.
In other news, I'm looking into starting into some freelance photography. I love to travel, and nature/cultural photography is right up my alley. I've wanted to do photography for Texas Highways magazine since I started into photography in high school. I'd much rather make my living doing photography than tech support, so perhaps it will grow into something more. My biggest obstacle is getting equipment. Texas Highways does not accept anything below 5 MegaPixel (my camera does 3.2) for digital photos. I have been eying the Canon EOS 10D (yes, the site is in flash, unfortunately) lately, but the cost on the body is upwards of $1500 (that does not include lenses or memory or spare batteries or any other needed items). I may be able to get one towards the end of the year (if things go well). In the meantime, I've been trying to relax a little more and try not to let the stress of work get to me. I've taken a few photos - mostly of friends at the meetings - as of recent, and they are posted in the photos section.
08-24-2003
Just thought I'd update some photos. I took a couple of myself in interesting poses, for those of you who wanted a recent pic up of me. The one on the left here makes me look like some old art rendering of an apostle or something with the halo of light behind the head. Also included are some empty shots of mojo's i took for the background of my friend Al's comic.